Despite tall claims, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has failed to keep the city clean.
Heaps of garbage are seen in almost all areas of the provincial capital owing to limited capacity and unpreparedness of the company to handle tonnes of solid waste after expiry of contracts with foreign companies.
Waste collection and cleanliness agreements between the LWMC and Turkish contractors Albayrak and OzPak JV are going to end on December 31.
The LWMC has already decided not to offer any further extension to the contractors. The company accepted the responsibility to lift solid waste from the city with the help of local government agencies.
However, it is struggling to maintain cleanliness in the metropolis. The company had announced a ‘zero waste’ operation in the city but most areas still have heaps of garbage. Overflowing waste bins can be witnessed in Township, Peco Road, Johar Town, Band Road, Sabzazar, Iqbal Town, Baghbanpura, China Scheme and other areas.
Earlier the company had given December 24 deadline for completion of the zero waste operation but it failed to complete even half of the work. Only some cleanliness work was done on main city roads but all other areas were in a bad condition. Citizens were complaining that no one was available in their areas to collect the waste.
Waste bins were overflowing but no one was came to empty them, which resulted in the garbage being scattered on roads, a citizen, Muhammad Rafiq, pointed out.
A spokesperson for the LWMC told The Express Tribune that all resources, machinery and manpower had been deployed for effective zero waste operation in the city. “The company is working on a war footing basis as per the directives of senior management. All senior officers have been directed to remain in the field till completion of the zero waste operation and efforst are being made to clear all containers and open plots of waste.”
He underlined that all available means were being utilised to ensure timely lifting of waste.
He claimed that in the next few days a visible difference in cleanliness of the city would be observed and no officer or worker would be going home until the operation ended successfully.
He added that more than 18,000 tonnes of waste had been lifted in an environment friendly manner, whereas the cleanliness operation was still underway.
Although the contract between the LWMC and the contractors will expire on December 31, it is reportedly not ending on good terms.
The contractors were claiming that their bills worth millions of rupees were pending, while the LWMC management claimed that they did not fulfill their contractual obligations and the company had to recover millions of rupees from them.
A couple of week ago, the LWMC management had allegedly taken over the workshop and machinery of a contractor, reportedly resulting in complaints from the foreign firm.
LWMC intends to outsource the waste collection operations in nine zones of the city to local companies.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2020.
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